Of Assassination, Alibis and Crimes
by ir0ny-walking
Summary: (UNDER RECONSTRUCTION) Mafia!AU Manami Okuda was an ordinary girl who loves chemistry that is, until she accidentally created an antidote that could heal all injuries and diseases. She became the most wanted person of the whole Mafias. During her abduction, unbelievably, she was saved by her former Lab partner, Karma Akabane who was a member of the infamous Class E family.
1. Abduction Time!

p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I-I swear! I don't know what you're talking about! P-please let me go!" A girl pleaded once her gag was removed. Her hair had escaped their twin braids and her glasses has a little crack in the lens. All of her energy had left her after three days without any food. Still, she tried to loosen the bounds in her hands and feet but to no avail. The bounds were too tight and the chair prevented her from moving. It was a helpless case to struggle especially when it's in front of her captors, though she refused to give up. No way would she let herself die in such pitiful state. She was Manami Okuda! The one who could easily find a way to solve a Chemistry problem when the rest of the class fails./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"One of the goons clicked his tongue. He grabbed a rifle on the table and aimed it at her, "Too bad, girlie. If you don't spill where you hide the antidote, we're going to make you suffer."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"She flinched at his words. It was not just some empty threats other gangsters say to induce fear to their hostages. No. They are the real deal. A real made men, or soldiers as they would like to call themselves, of a big Mafia Family. She knew this for sure because she had experienced it. They beaten her a few times to force her into telling them where she hid the formula. But no matter what happens, she will never tell them it's' location. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. Besides, it was no use fighting for her life. There will be no one who'll miss her anyway. All of her classmates bullied her and her parents was very busy with their own lives to take care of their child. Hot tears spilled from her eyes, it blurred her sight and make it hard to see the faces of her abductor./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"She heard the screeching of a chair signifying that the other man rose from his position on the table in front of her. His heavy footsteps were approaching in her direction. The sound of his slap resounded in the whole abandoned warehouse. Her head snapped to the side at the force of the impact. "Tell us now or we will kill you."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Then kill me. I don't care. I will never tell you." It would have been a perfect heroic statement, if only she wasn't in tears. Manami chastised herself for thinking stupid things when she was in a dangerous situation. The moonlight allowed her to see his face and enraged expression. It was enough to make her whimper./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""You spoiled brat-"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"A gunshot rang through the night followed by a dull thud of a body. They both saw his companion fell to the ground in a pool of blood. There was a hole in the center his forehead. She saw the life from one of her captor's eyes fade away slowly. Before she could scream, the remaining man cut off her binds. As she tried to ran away but he pulled one of her braids. "Let me go!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"He wrapped his arms in her throat. "If you struggle, I won't hesitate to kill you."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The cool barrel of his gun was pointed in her head as he dragged her to one of the alleyways. She felt him fumbled for something in his crumpled suit. At last he pulled out a phone then dialed. A stray bullet missed them in the side just a few meters above their heads./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Come out, come out wherever you are. I know where you are hiding so it's pointless to stay in there." A confident voice called out in the darkness. The tone held a mischievous hint in it. 'It sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before?' She was snapped out of her thoughts when her captor ran deeper in the alley only to find a dead end. She heard him curse a certain Class E group as he dialed on his phone again./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Hello? Yanagisawa? I need some reinforcement! The Class E is on the move tonight. They found us in the warehouse." There was an indistinct chattering on the other side of the phone, "Yes, I have the girl but we were cornered on an alley. She refused to give us the location no matter how hard we beat her."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The phone was shot off from his hand. "Oh, already asking for some back-up? How cowardly of you?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The voice taunted again. She was frozen in fear when he cocked his gun. He aimed it at the shadows, "I'm not a coward! You are! Show yourself!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Are you sure? Anyone who will see this face are bound to die."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"He was so taunt and rigid that's why she was surprised to hear him laugh. "You guys don't want any innocents to be involved, right? So, there will be no killing tonight."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The man released her from his grasp then kicked her in the back. She crashed on the alley wall, losing her glasses in the process. "Run, you, worthless brat!" He yelled at her. Upon realizing that this is her chance to flee, she grabbed it, not knowing that this was what he really wanted. He shot her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"She was shot and she knew this but the idea was so distant. Out of instinct, she clutched her side to stop the bleeding but the shock caused her to slowly lose consciousness. Faintly, she felt her captor run away. She staggered a bit but a rock caused her to stumble. Black spots dotted her vision as she strained to see the newcomer approaching her. At last, she let the darkness consumed her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The other Mafia's made man had run away after shooting at his hostage. A red-haired boy pressed at his earpiece, "He had escaped the alley. Hayami-san, kill him if he shows up within your shooting range."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Roger that, Akabane-san."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Ritsu, have you traced the phone call?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Hai, it was located on the one of the biggest Science Lab in the country."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Good job, Ritsu. Terasaka, pick me up."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"There was only static at first and, knowing what will happened, he removed the earpiece, holding it just a few meters away from his ear. "Who do you think you are? Ordering us around like a servant?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I'm the Consigliere and one of your second in command, Terasaka. Have you forgotten or do you want me to remind you again?" He grinned, enjoying the annoyance of his friend./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I know it but don't get carried away at your position, Karma. You're still an 18-year-old student like us." Terasaka replied./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"He put back the earpiece just in case there will be any complications or reports. Gold eyes scanned the surroundings then stopped at the crumpled form of a girl. It was the goon's hostage before. He can't let her suffer in this kind of place. Her state was awful. She was still in her school uniform a sign that she was abducted either before or after school. In his further inspection, she has a lot of wounds and bruises. There was also dried blood on her clothes not counting the ones in her side. Fortunately, the bullet didn't hit but just merely scratched her. He looked around in search for something that she might own. The cracked eyeglasses that glinted in the moonlight caught his eye, he went to pick it up and kept it in his suit's secret pocket./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"'She looks pale.' He thought, shrugging off his trench coat and putting it on her. Despite his mischievous nature, he was a very caring soul. K/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"o/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"ro-sensei always reminded him of that character./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Tsk, that octopus was right as usual." He said out loud as he shook his head./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Karma was about to carry her on a piggyback ride when, for the first time, he noticed that she looks familiar. He didn't immediately recognize her because her hair on the right side was loose. But the braid that rested on her left shoulder was unmistakable. There is only one person in their school who kept her hair in a twin braid. It was his former Lab partner in Chemistry./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Manami Okuda?"/span/p 


	2. New Family Member Time!

p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Manami strained to open her eyes. It feels so heavy as if she's been sleeping for a long time. Once, she cracked an eye open, she instantly regretted it. Blinding lights assaulted her vision making her head hurt. Hushed voices can be heard talking with apprehension. She groaned, raising her hands to cover her face. All of them fell in silence then spoke together in all of a sudden./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""She's awake!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Thank goodness. You got us all worried!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""How are you feeling?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The loudness of their voice made her wince. "Be silent. Let her be for now. Kaede/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;",/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" please draw the curtains. Her senses are still sensitive that almost all things could hurt her." A kind yet authoritative voice said./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"As the room became dim, she tried to open her eyes again. This time she could make out a blur outlines of people crowding around her. Even if she doesn't know what's happening, or who they were, she can't help the blush that creep from her neck to her face. Someone in the group chuckled, "I forgot, she doesn't like attention that much, guys. Unless you want her to look like she's imitating a tomato, it would be best to keep your distance from her. Right, Koro-sensei?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I believe Karma is right. Besides, you still have to attend your classes. If you skipped school today, I will make sure you answer twice homework tonight." At that declaration, everyone grumbled but still raced towards the door./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Here's your glasses. I thought you needed this since, I've never seen you without it." One of the blurred person extended something to her. She accepted it, "T-thank you."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"After slipping it on her face, it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. Although when it, did the first thing that registered in her mind was red hair and gold, cat-like eyes. It was followed by a blue hair in pigtails and octopus tentacles. /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"'Hold on… Am I still dreaming?'/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""An octo… pus?" She asked out of shock. The octopus guy just laughed./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Don't mind him. That's Koro-sensei our teacher. He likes to wear costumes, octopus especially." She looked at the speaker and was surprised to see a familiar face. "N- Nagisa?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Do you remember what happened last night?" The one who sat at the edge of the bed asked. "/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"I don/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"'t.. I/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" don't think so… The memories were so hazy- Wait-! Karma?" She stuttered after noticing who was talking to her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"'First, an octopus guy then my classmate and my former Lab partner. What exactly happened to me?'/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I'm sorry! D-did I faint in the middle of the/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"… of the/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" class?" The logical part of her agreed with the idea. It was the only acceptable reason as to why she was here in front of her schoolmates with a teacher to watch over. She attempted to sit up but felt like her body was like a lead not to mention, her side was in a searing pain. A yellow tentacle pushed her shoulder back, making her lie again. "Don't move yet. Your body is still too weak from the beating it got."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Beating?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Out of a habit, she looked down to examine her body. To her disbelief, some bandages were wrapped in her arms. Also, she was wearing a casual dress that is clearly not hers./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""You've been abducted by two Mafia members."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Karma! You should've just let her remember on her own!" Nagisa cried./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"He looked at him with raised eyebrows. "What? It's better if she knew what happened to her sooner rather than later."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""He's correct, Nagisa. Also, I don't like being in the dark. I could somehow recall the incidents now." She replied as the memories slammed through her mind like a tidal wave. "They forced me to tell them where the antidote was." At the mention of the certain thing, a gasp escaped from her mouth. She scrambled off of the bed, ignoring all the pain, "My clothes. Where's my clothes?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Karma watched her with an amused expression while she frantically searched for her previous garments until, he pointed at the nightstand. There placed neatly folded, was her stuffs. She released a relieved sigh and her body visibly relaxed. It was funny that she didn't changed at all after 3 years/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" in comparison to the redhead/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;". Save for the longer hair and more mature look in her eyes, she was still the same person. Her stuttering didn't disappear at that span of time either, as well as her shy disposition/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" while he grown a little more mature both in built and ways./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"She pulled out a woolen pouch from her skirt's pocket. It was knotted securely in a complicated tie that only she could untangle. Inside was a vial full of clear liquid. It didn't break during their scuffle, thank goodness. The goons were dumb enough not to inspect her clothes./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""What's that?" She almost forgot that there were people in the room with her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Karma loomed over her shoulder, "Eh, is that a concoction? As expected from Poison Glasses. I'm glad that the suspension didn't stop you from experimenting in the Lab." He flashed her his signature mischievous smirk complete with his sharp canine. The call name had stuck ever since their junior years but oddly, it didn't affect her. If anything, she was glad he still called her by her code name./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Koro-sensei interrupted her moment what he stated made her blood ran cold. "I thought it was just rumors but seeing it now felt even more surreal. Manami Okuda, you're the creator of the famous Medicine X, am I correct?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"She felt Karma tensed behind her. It was no point denying it. They already figured it out. The very secret she did her best to hide was now revealed. Plus, she was tired of running away. If anybody finds out her secret, she wanted it to be her friends first. "You got me… This is the Medicine X. You could turn me into/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"…/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" the police now and get the reward. I'll surrender peacefully." She fidgeted with the pouch, afraid to look back to see her friends' face. They must be disgusted with /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"her/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" by now. After all, no matter how good /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"her/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" intention was, /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"she/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" still broke the school rules./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"A laugh brought an end to the tension she was experiencing. She felt her back rumbled with Karma's laughter. Soon, Nagisa joined him. Confused, she turned around to asked what's funny in her situation but he put a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, Manami/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"./spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" But we don't need another sum of money. We already have lots of it, to be honest. /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"W/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"e won't report you to the police/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" though/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" we won't let you roam the country with that large target sign on your head either."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Huh?" She doesn't understand a thing about what he said. Furrowing her brows, she glanced at the octopus man, Koro-sensei, for a clue. Nagisa wiped a tear in the corner of his eye. "What he meant, Okuda is that, you should join our Mafia Family. We will protect you with our lives and you will gain real friends that you can trust. I promise, you will like it in here. What do you say Koro-sensei?" He asked with his honest-to-goodness sincere smile./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The man just laughed and said, "Well, welcome to the Class E Family, Okuda."/span/p 


	3. Ascension Test Time!

Karma leaned his back on the windows that overlooked the peaceful scene of the mountain. His reflection stared back at him, deep in thought. To his surprise, his former Lab partner took the news of being a member of the infamous Class E Mafia pretty well. She was even listening intently to Koro-sensei as he explained the basic things in the crime family. The only time she made an uneasy expression was, when he mentioned the other group they considered as enemy, namely Yanagisawa's crew, and the possibility of being assassinated or be the one who does the assassinating. But overall, she looks like she could get along with the family just fine.

Though what bothered him most was the fact that the shy, Chemistry lover, Manami Okuda was the famous Witch everybody were after. The Mafias, the government, the non-government officials and just about everyone else were eager to know who she is and take her in their care. Who would have thought that the unassuming girl he used to ask favors for his pranks before, would be the utmost wanted person in the whole world now?

 _'The irony of life…'_

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. "Come in," he replied, shoving his hands on his pockets. As expected, his best friend slipped in the library in one fluid motion. "Okuda-san and Koro-sensei's lecture ended about an hour ago."

"Oh, is that so?" was his monotonous answer.

"Don't you want to talk to her?" Nagisa asked while sitting in one of the soft leather couch. A sigh sounded when he didn't reacted. "When was the last time you had a conversation with her? I'm sure you have a lot of catching up to do with your chemical prank producer."

Karma turned back to the windows and contemplated in silence for a long time until he felt him prepare to leave the room. It's not that he won't change his mind. He knew Nagisa would come here because he was worried at their friendship. Ever since the school forbade any interactions of the higher sections to the lower ones, they slowly drifted apart. The situation frustrated them both especially, because they have experienced it before though they've solved it through a fight.

"It's such a shame. You really complimented each other's attitude. With your mischievous and manipulative attitude, and Manami's awkward but sweet disposition and her amazing skill in creating chemical potions. You could have been an awesome pair." The boy stated as last attempt of convincing him.

"What do you think is the reason, she stayed in the section 2 when she could easily pass the Ascension Test?" He turned to confront him.

"I don't know. Why don't you ask her yourself?" Nagisa was twisted the knob with a triumphant grin etched on his face.

Manami walked around the house. Their supposed home was on the mountain, away from the never-ending bustle of civilization. Not that she was complaining, if she was to pick one place to live in, the city or this place, she would pick the latter in a heartbeat. The peaceful scene was exactly what she needs after the rough events that had happened to her. She grimaced upon remembering Koro-sensei's answer to her confusion.

 _"Why do I feel like I haven't eaten in ages?" A deep frown was set on her face while_ _staring at the food in front of her._

 _"Oh! It was probably because you've been asleep for two days in order for your body to recuperate and also because, as Ritsu reported me, you also haven't consumed anything during your abduction which lasted for three days._ _We hooked you on an IV as you_ _'_ _re resting_ _but that doesn_ _'_ _t beat eating, right?" He_ _explained,_ _bringing_ _the food closer to her_ _mouth_ _in mere seconds._

A trail in the forest caught her eye, it was almost imperceptible for it was sandwiched between two large bushes. The narrow way indicated that there must be only one person who always pass through it. With a deep, audible breath, she followed it deeper in the woods.

Doubt crept into her mind when she looked at her watch. She was walking for at least fifteen minutes but the end of the path is still nowhere to be seen. The girl contemplated whether to go back or not when she at last heard something. A faint sound of flowing water. The sound got louder as she neared it. Her face lit up at the thought of a falls. In her whole nineteen years of life, she hasn't seen one before. It made her intrigued and excited at the same time. Steeling her resolve, she marched straight in the source. A couple of steps took her to a small clearing. She walked towards the waterfall as if in trance. Her face was reflected in the water, her mouth was shaped as small letter O in a silent wonder and her eyes was filled with awe at the amazing work of nature. Water cascaded from the cliff, close to where she's standing, before disappearing to the mist downwards. A miniature rainbow shined just above the fog. It was such an awesome sight to behold!

"You're going to fall in if you in the water too much." A voice brought her back to reality. She almost didn't hear it due to the loud crashing of water. Manami looked at the owner and flushed in embarrassment. "K-Karma! You scared me. How long have you been there?"

Karma was leaning in one of the trees, arm crossed, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "I was here for about half an hour ago." He replied striding to her side then sat down in a carefree manner.

Her blush deepened at the answer. It only means that he saw her acting like an idiot because she was being mystified by the falls. She opened and closed her mouth in attempt to formulate an excuse at her strange behavior but unfortunately, no words came out.

"It's your first time seeing a waterfall, isn't it?" He asked calmly, saving her from any further humiliation.

"Y-yeah. Is it obvious?" She joked. A few beats passed and she wanted to smack herself for not thinking. Their bond was different then compared to now, she wasn't sure if they are still allowed to venture in the joking terms.

He laughed, thankfully, then shook his head with a grin. "You didn't change at all, have you?"

"I guess so, but so did you. You didn't change though you've did improve a little bit in your pranks." Her lips curled up in a small smile.

The two fell into a comfortable silence. It's like they were in junior high again, hanging out without a care about school statuses. Before the principal decided to cut the ties of the higher section to the lower ones because of the intellectual gap or so he said.

"Why didn't you take the Ascension Test? You could've ranked up to the first section." As usual, Karma was straight to the point. He picked up some stones near her hand then tossed it on the river. She watched it skipped through the water.

"It's because there is only a slight pressure on section 2 as compared to yours." Her brows were knitted together while her lips were pursed, a sure sign that she was not telling the whole truth. He paused mid-throw to search her face. He's observing her. When she realized what he was doing, she rearranged her expression then glanced at him, "Is there something on my face?"

"You're hiding something."

Faces of people flashed through mind and the fear she felt must've been reflected in her eyes because his brows drawn together in a scowl. It was only for a second, though it was enough for him to figure out what is the real reason. "It's nothing."

"It's the bullies?" It wasn't a question, he phrased it like something akin to a statement. His gold eyes pierced right through her. There's no point lying now.

She sighed and hugged her knees, he could really see right through her as well as she could see through his excuses. "They're not bullies, they are merely telling the truth."

It was etched in her mind, Worthless, Useless, Trash. All the words of people who taunted her keep repeating in her head for so many times, haunting every waking moment of her life, that she had long since accepted it.

"That's garbage. You and I know it." He cut her off when she tried to retort. "Don't give me that nonsense excuse of not being good enough. You're better than them. Even better than the Big Five's science geek, Natsuhiko Koyama. Don't tell me you're not because he lost at you at one to many times in quizzes and grades. Yet, you just let them step on you because you're too much of a chicken to stand up for yourself."

His words were harsh, they both knew it, but sometimes they all need to be slapped by the reality in order to be brave, that's one lesson she learned from the life she experienced. She buried her face in her lap. "I know, but somehow, I can't find the strength to. All my life I think I'm not good at anything. That's why I made the Medicine X to prove myself that I can find my worth. But it just led me to trouble."

"No. It led you to us, to the Class E Family, to Koro-sensei. So, I suggest, you should go kick your tormentors to the shin and teach them a lesson or I will be the one to do it for you just like what I did these past three years." He rose up from his seat and smirked, showing her a tube of spicy mustard and wasabi before turning around to leave.

His words took a second to sink in her mind. 'Like what his doing in this past three years? What does he mean by that?'

She remembered some of her bullies, one by one, they left her alone after going back from the hospital. They all cower away from her whenever they come across each other even if it's in the hallway or classroom. The pieces were now falling into place as to why they were not bothering her anymore. Manami stood up so fast, she got a whiplash. He was gone, no doubt, going back to the Manor.

"Could it be? He did that for me?"

Not only that, she could also recall Nagisa defending her from one of the seniors and Kayano glaring at her 'so-called friends', daring them to complain, while dragging her to the restaurant that served the best pudding.

 _'_ _I was too caught up in fear that I didn't noticed my friends who are willing to protect me. Now it's my turn to do my best._ _'_ She ran back to their school with renewed determination.

Meanwhile, in the forest, Karma's phone began ringing in his pocket. "Hello?"

"Karma-kun! Where is she? Are you sure she will take the test? It will start soon and she's still missing!" Kayano's frantic voice can be heard at the end of the line.

"Yes, I know her. She will be there just wait for her." He replied, watching the said girl run in front of him without even noticing his presence.

Little did they know that was a certain yellow octopus spying at them with notebook, pen and camera in his hands. His eyes were glinting with mischief as he was laughing, "Nryuhuhuhuhu! I'm going to put these on the photo book."

He browsed through his camera, images of Karma and Manami smiling can be seen in it. Though, they were not the only victims, there were also photos of Sugino and Kanzaki laughing together, Kayano and Nagisa on a pudding shop, and many, many more. "It's time to put my Matchmaking Skills to work!"


	4. Bad Guys Time!

p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""She's gone?! What do you mean she's gone?" A man in a lab coat shouted at his made man. Saying that he was angry was an understatement. He was so mad, all he could see was red. Oh, how much he wanted to murder someone right now, especially if it involved a man in a yellow octopus costume. "How could you let the girl escaped? She's just a /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"college student/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"! Dragging her from the warehouse to here should be piece of a cake for you, yet you let her get away!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The man before him trembled in fear. Their Don's malicious bloodlust could be felt in all rooms of the building. "I-I told you before, Boss. The E Class attacked and ruined the plan! They even killed Yu! I don't have a choice, they will kill me. So, I let the hostage run and shot her to divert their attention-"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"He didn't get to finish his sentence for Yanagisawa got him on a chokehold. "You did what? I don't care if you die. Her life has more value than yours. If she died because of your stupid attempt to flee, I'll make sure you will get an agonizing punishment. Do you understand me?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""You can't k-kill me! You agreed on… the Family c/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"on… /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"contract not to murder… anyone from our group!" He gasped out. Black spots dotted his vision./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Yes, I couldn't kill you. But there were things worse than death." His Don's smile was so sinister, he instantly regretted opening his mouth in the first place. The sound of the door opening and closing told them that someone had entered the room./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Let go of the poor guy, Yanagisawa. You're cutting off his oxygen." An apathetic voice of the newcomer stated. As he was released from the vice grip on his neck, he sucked on air greedily despite the burning sensation in his lungs./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I just can't believe he let our future slipped from our grasp! The creator of Medicine X, the Witch! Not to mention, he lost her to the Class E where the monster we are seeking to destroy was the Don. I should've send you instead, after all, they were no match for The Reaper."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Don't beat yourself up. We're still not sure if she's the Witch or not. She's only/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" what?/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" 1/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"8/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" or 1/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"9/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" years old/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"?/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"T/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"he chance that it's her is slim. Besides, what if the one we're looking for is a man not a girl?" The Reaper replied to him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""There are geniuses in that school/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;". T/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"he probability that it's her is about 90 percent. It has the highest possibility of all." He tossed all the files of people they suspected was the creator. On top of it was Manami Okuda's file./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"He picked up the records, "How are you sure it's her, when she hadn't topped any test in Chemistry nor Math? It's stated in here that she was the 14th placer on overall ranks. If anything, it should be Akabane and Gakushu. They are the only ones who are competing for the first."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Yes, but Akabane was 87 percent whereas Gakushu was 85. They are under the girl and has their own Family except for her. She was unclaimed. Well, she was until, this idiot of a made men left her to the Class E." The Don glared at the suspect which had crawled towards the door while they were talking. "Too bad, I can't eliminate him."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: 1.0000pt double windowtext; mso-border-bottom-alt: 0.5000pt double windowtext; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The Reaper was gone in a flash then reappeared in front of the man. "Maybe, you can't but I certainly can."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I'm sorry, Akabane but I haven't seen the other made man. He had escaped, choosing to enter houses to houses in order to hide from me." A girl with her hair in low pigtails bowed down in apology./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""It's okay, Haya/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"mi/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"-san. I already anticipated it. Seeing his partner die in front of him from being shot by a sniper caused him to be wary of his surroundings. Plus, it's a small thing compared to what we've gained." The red-haired boy continued to walk to their school's gate./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Many girls swoon at the sight of him, some even sighed dreamily. Though he remained indifferent. It was, as if, they were not there. /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"He/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" amazed at /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"her/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" sometimes. If anyone could induce this kind of effect on the girls, they would, no doubt, act arrogantly. But he was still /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"him/span/emspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"They arrived at their own room and she find her eyes drifting to the classroom across their own. Yesterday was the Ascension Test so everybody, especially the 2nd section, was anxious at the result. Yet, she felt disappointed. It must have shown on her face because Maehara sat beside her. "Don't worry, I know, whoever you are thinking right now had passed the test."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Even if she was thankful for him, she can't rely on false hope. "No, I don't think so, he hasn't showed up yesterday."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""No, he did. Although he was fifteen minutes/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" late/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"." She was surprised to hear Karma speak. It wasn't like him to chat unless it was business./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Wait. Do you even know who I was referring to?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"He /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"smirked/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;", "Of course, I do. And I have a feeling that he would soon abandon his crewmates and jump on our mothership."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"She was speechless. How he knew her closest friend in the other section, it was beyond her understanding./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: 1.0000pt double windowtext; mso-border-bottom-alt: 0.5000pt double windowtext; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Oh, and in case, you're wondering, I was speaking both literally and metaphorically." He shoved his hands in his pockets then stood up. "Now, should we meet our new classmates?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"Manami was fidgeting with her skirt, her heart was pounding twice faster as she near the bulletin board. Their test results have been posted. She was really grateful for Kayano for having her back yesterday. The security won't let her enter the school because she wasn't in her uniform no matter how much she tried to explain./span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;" /span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;""Sir, please, I need to get in for the Ascension Test." She pleaded/span/ememspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;", bunching her skirt in a fist in desperation/span/ememspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"./span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;" /span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"The guard gave her a stern look, "I'm sorry, Miss but in order to enter, you need to be in your complete uniform."/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;" /span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"She was ready to give up when she heard her name being called. Someone was running towards her direction. "Manami!"/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;" /span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"Kayano stopped in front of her, "I… I have… your uniform… in here… Man, your fast!" She panted then practically shoved a bag in her face. The green-haired girl turned to the guard once she caught her breath, "We need to get in. She was in the hospital earlier that's why she wasn't in a proper attire."/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;" /span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;""Is-is that so?/span/ememspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"" Despite being/span/ememspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;" as confused as Manami, he still opened the gate./span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;" /span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"Kayano dragged the bespectacled girl in the school to their respective classroom without wasting another minute./span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;" /span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;""Uh… Kayano-chan? How did you know I was going to need this?" Manami asked her after changing in the girl's bathroom./span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;" /span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: 1.0000pt double windowtext; mso-border-bottom-alt: 0.5000pt double windowtext; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"She cheerfully answered, walking to where the tests were being held. "Let's just say a handsome birdie told me."/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"A pat on her shoulder broke her thoughts. Nagisa was beaming at her with Kayano beside him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""How do you feel about the results?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Huh? W-what did you say? I'm sorry?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I told you she's zoning out." Kayano laughed and pointed at the board. "We passed! We're officially students of the section 1!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""We did?" She can't believe her eyes! Not only that they passed but they're also one of the top 5!/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Rio Nakamura- 497/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Isogai Yuma- 489/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Nagisa Shiota- 485/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Manami Okuda- 483/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Kaede Kayano- 482/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""We did it!" She exclaimed excitedly then pulled the two of her best friend in a hug. Her actions surprised them, even herself, she's not the one who expresses her emotions outside for the reason of being awkward. But this was her true friends she's talking about! There is no problem with them if she's a bumbling idiot, they'll still accept her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"They hugged her tighter and Kayano whispered, "We did it."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Yeah, we did." Nagisa replied. Both was smiling at the redheaded boy leaning in the door. Behind him was some of the Class E family, Rinka, Maehara, Kanzaki and Megu./span/p 


	5. New Family Member Time! Part 2

p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Good evening, everyone. I know you are all tired from all of the activities you did but let us give this opportunity to celebrate the success of our hardworking Family members. We all know that they studied harder and gave their best to pass the once in a lifetime Ascension Test. Now, let us call on the top five of in the exams."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Everybody clapped their hands as the said five came up to the front. They were called by Koro-sensei to the living room the moment they set foot on the Mansion after getting back from school. All of the twenty-six members of Class E Family, including Ritsu who already appeared in the flat screen TV, gathered around the large, cozy room. Others settled on the woolen carpet, some on the large sofa, the beanbag and the love/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"seat. They were contented to watch their friends receive an honor of some sort for the achievement they worked so hard to attain. Their joy and excitement were palpable in the air especially when Koro-sensei announced that there will be a feast on the mess hall made for the occasion./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Manami sighed while clutching her glass of orange juice. She was on the balcony an hour after the celebration. Koro-sensei said she was free to stay and sleep in the Manor since they have a lot of spare rooms available and she could always shop for clothes anytime without spending her own money, to which Kanzaki and Kaede volunteered to help her. He told her not to worry because he already talked to her parents last night to convince them to give her the right to decide whether to stay at the Mafia or not./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"They were all amazing. The members of E- Class and Koro-sensei behaved like the family she didn't have but longed to. It left a gaping hole in her chest to think of her own parents back home. They're probably too busy of their jobs to pay any attention to their daughter as usual./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""What are you thinking?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Karma's voice broke her thoughts. She blinked then looked beside her to see him looking at her. "Oh! Karma, /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"were you standing there all along/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Yes. It/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"'s about…/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"" he glanced at his watch, /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""…/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" fifteen minutes/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" already/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Her cheeks reddened at his statement. It means that he was /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"staring at/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" her face for a long time! She heard him chuckle./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: 1.0000pt double windowtext; mso-border-bottom-alt: 0.5000pt double windowtext; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Relax! I'm just messing with you. Besides, you look cute you blush." He winked at her then went back to the room still chuckling, leaving an even more flustered and spluttering Manami at his wake./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The Reaper was sitting in the laboratory when a thought hit him. "Hey, Yanagisawa. How can you be so sure that it was the girl not the two competing for the top?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The scientist stopped pouring the chemical halfway. "You mean the creator of Medicine X?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Yeah," he placed his arms behind his head./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I disguised myself as a Chemistry teacher in their school to observe them one by one." Yanagisawa continued his work./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""So? That's not enough as an answer. Clarify it. What kind of tests did you made them do for you to be confident in the result?" He frowned./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""It's simple. I told them to /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"copy the five concoctions I/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"'ve made just by observing it. I never gave them any /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"formula/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" to follow nor told them what they are. Just let them on their own devices./spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" They were squeamish about the idea but worked anyway. The two, Akabane and Asano, looked like they were beating themselves in trying to think of /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"the correct formula/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" but the girl proceeded with caution then began to mixed chemicals with an air of accuracy./spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The boys only managed to /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"recreate the/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" poison, stun and blind solution while she /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"copied the four/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" without breaking a sweat. The only one she hadn't made w/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"as/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" the /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"crude mixture of a medicine/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;". /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"I asked her why she didn/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"'t copy them, she told me that it feels wrong to make something so incomplete./spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"She told me that she would make it /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"'better' before attempting to make it again/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;". I know a skilled person when I see one. She's a natural at solution making, I can tell you that much." The mixture he was slowly shaking turned green./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I see… So, when do you plan to attack them and retrieve her?" The Reaper asked./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: 1.0000pt double windowtext; mso-border-bottom-alt: 0.5000pt double windowtext; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Patience, Reaper. We need time to plan out our move."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"It was Saturday morning and Koro-sensei already woke them up in five am. They were still sleepy and some were even sleeping in the long table where they were gathered. Manami fought the urge to slumped and rest her head on the long table like Terasaka and Maehara. The scene was so comical that she would've laughed if she's not sleepy. All of them were in their pajamas saved for Karma, Nagisa and their Don./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Hey, Koro-sensei. Can we please go back inside? I'm still tired." Kaede yawned for emphasis./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Unfortunately Kaede, we can't because I decided to change some Family plans. As well as introduce our newest member." A yellow tentacle reached out to pat her head./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Who is it?" She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Children, let us welcome Ryunosuke Chiba." He gestured at the door./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"A boy around their age with bangs covering his eyes entered the mess hall. His torso was covered in bandages. Everyone froze and stared wide-eyed, all of their drowsiness disappeared. Hayami was the first one to broke the silence./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Chiba? I thought you were with the A Class Family?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I'm no longer their member." The boy, Chiba, replied./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Wait, what exactly happened? Did they kick you out?" Maehara asked./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"He shook his head, "They abandoned me on a mission."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: 1.0000pt double windowtext; mso-border-bottom-alt: 0.5000pt double windowtext; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Which is the same as disowning." Karma shoved his hands on his pockets./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Koro-sensei, they all ran when they saw you. What do we do now?" Nagisa watched the made-men of the famous A Class ran away in fear at the sight of them./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""No, there's a sniper left in the rooftop aiming at us. I could feel their bloodlust from here. There was only one and they are currently moving, am I right, Ritsu?" Karma pressed his earpiece while looking at their Don/teacher./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"They were in an ally around midnight for there was a news of a shootout near their Mansion. Koro-sensei proposed to check it and both of them agreed./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""You're wrong, Akabane-san." The AI's voice answered on each of their earpiece. "There were two of them. One of which was Hayami-san's best friend, Chiba-san."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Could you hack their system so that we could listen to their conversation?" Their teacher glanced at where the said snipers were positioned./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I'm working on it."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Static crackled then harsh but fearful whispers can be heard./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""-but the Don's command was to shoot-" Karma could identify the owner of the voice as Chiba./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Forget what he said! I don't want to stay here with these freaks! The made-men of that crazy Don, Yanagisawa was shooting randomly. I don't want to risk getting hit!" This time Tanaka, their coward classmate, spoke while running judging from the short pauses and rustling of clothes./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"As if on cue, a gunshot rang out and they heard someone hissed in pain./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"From the rooftop, Chiba gritted his teeth while clutching his side. "Tanaka, call for help. I've been shot."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""No."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""What? What do you mean, no?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I mean no. You're nothing but a lowly Section 2. Why would I help you? We're better without you. Good riddance, loser!" Tanaka cackled then turned off his earpiece./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"Koro-sensei, Nagisa and Karma stared at each other. Disbelief was written on each of their faces. They can't believe that it was so easy for him to abandon a Family./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""Take care of Chib/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"a/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" while I'll look for the gunman." Koro-sensei commanded them before jumping on the alley wall with a superhuman ability./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: 1.0000pt double windowtext; mso-border-bottom-alt: 0.5000pt double windowtext; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"The/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"y nod then climbed on the gutter, to reach the rooftop without sparing a glance to their Don. The/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" sniper was passed out when they arrived./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""We brought him here to treat his wound and gave him the chance to be our member or become a free student again." Koro-sensei explained to the E Class Family./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""What's your answer, Chiba?" Manami asked him. They were already friends before she found out that he was a member of their rival so speaking with him was easy./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;"All of them held their breaths in anticipation./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.0000pt;""I want to be a part of the E Class Family." His voice was gentle but firm./span/p 


	6. Revelation Time!

"What do you mean, Koro-sensei?" Karma's voice interrupted his speech.

"I said, I will change your partners." He repeated patiently. "I know it will be new for you considering they were the one whom you worked with for about a year. But the change will be the best for you."

There were a lot of grumbling about the turn of events which Manami could understand. If she were to work with someone for a year, she could memorize their character and predict what they'll do on a situation. It would be easy for them to carry out any task because of the connection they have. But if her partner was changed, it means she will start from a scratch trying to make sense of their attitude again. They would be sloppy and out of sync. Which was a big disadvantage in assassination.

"Before you complain, allow me to let you in on a game. If you passed it easily, that means what I'm about to do is right. If it's not, then I won't change the pairings. Got it?"

"Hai!" everybody was eager to play and prove him wrong at the same time.

"Okay, I'll call each one of you and the person after your name was called is your partner. Let's start. Nagisa and Kaede, Yuma and Megu, Maehara and Hinata, Karma and Manami, Chiba and Rinka, Yukiko and Tomohito..." He stated all ofwhile in pairs except for Ritsu.

"Tsk, you just want to use your matchmaking skills on us." Maehara chuckled while scratching his head beside Hinata. Others agreed with him in unison.

"Although, I would love to match you and make you spill all your juicy secrets," his face turned pink in a second but turned back to normal again, "It is a serious matter. The wrong partner won't help you achieve your full potential though the right one would not only make you mature, they would also mature beside you. They would make your experience and knowledge wider."

Nagisa nodded all the while taking down notes. Kaede laughed at his antics. "You do realize that we're not in a class, right?"

"Yeah, but he got a point." Nagisa smiled at her.

"Think of this as a training and development of your skills both individual and with a partner. I'll scatter you in pairs, far enough so that you won't bumped in each other, at the Amazon Forest for two months. Of course, I won't exactly leave you alone. I will be there to watch your progress then help you shall the need arises. Also, Karasuma with Irina would train you at hand to hand combat and disguising."

"Wait! Karasuma? As in Karasuma-sensei? Our teacher in PE? And Irina-sensei our seducing good for nothing English teacher?" they all gape at him.

"Yes, I believe it is them." He grinned.

"Hey! I'm a professional assassin not a good for nothing teacher!" a voice yelled indignantly at the door of the mess hall.

Both of their teacher was standing just outside the door. Karasuma was cool, collected. Although, his companion was everything but. Irina was dressed in a too short skirt and a tube top that clung to her like a second skin. He looked at her in distaste when she tried to seduce him. Again.

"Since, she already announced her real job," he shot her a pointed look, "l tell you mine. I'm the head for the Defense Ministry of Japan."

"Assassin? Head of the Defense Ministry? What in the Mafia world are happening in here?" Terasaka demanded.

"Unfortunately, I could not tell you that. I'm bound to the promise the government made me swore. But I am here to keep you safe. My priority is all of your well-being."

* * *

 _'Am I the only one who is worried about living in the most vicious forest in the world for two months?'_ Manami bit her lower lip.

"We're all scared though the thrill of being on an adventure is greater than our fear." Karma spoke, seeing right through her. He glanced at the girl, "Don't tell me you don't feel that, too."

To be honest, she knew what he was referring to. But she was more worried about being stuck with Karma than the wonders of the forest. They haven't talked in the span of two years and now they would be alone in the forest to search for the others. She just hope it would turn out just fine for all of them.

* * *

"So, I'm your partner, huh?" Chiba stated for the sake of shattering awkwardness between them. It was an obvious fact but no one dared to point that out.

Rinka inwardly released a relieved sigh, "Yeah,"

The pregnant silence grew.

Finally, she glanced at him, her lips twitched upward in a small smile, "I guess, it's fine. At least, I'm not paired up with that pervert Okajima."

 _"I'm glad that you're my partner."_

He returned her smile, "Yeah, I guess it is."

 _"I'm glad it was you, too."_

They always spoke on codes but that's cool with them especially, they know what the other means despite the different words.

* * *

Nagisa looked at Kaede. They would be together for two months. It was a good thing that he ended up with Kaede since she was one of his closest friend in the Family. He wondered what his former partner was thinking at the sudden change. Well, not that he was complaining. Although, they were the best partner in the group. They were mostly letting the other do most of the work or just make it themselves. Not your usual partnership because instead of supporting each other, they tend to finish two different tasks simultaneously.

Manami and Karma would make an amazing pair. The same with Chiba and Rinka. Though, be was unsure of the others and to himself. He was terrified of letting his partner down.

"What are you thinking, Nagisa-kun?" Kaede asked, materializing beside him.

"Nothing. It was nothing, Kaede-chan." He forced a smile.

She studied his expression then beamed, "It's going to be okay, Nagisa-kun. You're an amazing assassin. I'm sure we could work this out!"

* * *

"The objective of this game is to cooperate with your partner and look for others. The sooner you found them, the sooner we could get home. You are only allowed to look for them in the night because the day are spent for your training with Irina and Karasuma. Do you understand?" Koro-sensei said after they all got off the helicopter, courtesy of Karasuma, and stood at the edge of the forest.

"Yes, Sir!"

"Okay, I'm going to bring you on each of your stations. I've made it just the other day along with the traps. Nurufufufufufu!" he laughed.

"The other day? Just how fast are you to finish it just in time?" Sugino exclaimed.

"Probably about 20 Mach." Kaede answered in an uncharacteristic tone. Koro-sensei was tensed and silent for the first time.

"Your kidding. No human being could possibly move that fast." Terasaka replied. Unaware of the sudden change in the atmosphere.

"Oh, but is he human? Tell me, Koro-sensei. Are you human?" Tentacles sprouted at the nape of her neck. It began to lash at their teacher in a blur.

He was caught off guard and it him right at the chest. He landed on a tree with a thud.

"Kaede-chan! What are you doing?!" Nagisa shouted.

She shot him a pained look as the rubber band in her pigtails snapped. Her waist length hair cascaded on her back. "Avenging my sister's death."

All of the E Class with their teachers stopped dead on their tracks.

* * *

 **Hi, everyone! I'm sorry, it took me so long to update. Too many school projects. But here it is now! I hope you like it! ^_^**

 **Also, soon I'm planning to make a twist of tales Assassination Classroom style. Hope you will support it, too.**

 **The underlined and italics sentences, during Rinka and China's conversation, was the real meaning behind their words.**

 **~bip0lar-angel~**


	7. Revelation Time! Part 2

Nobody breath. Nobody moved. It was as if, time itself stopped ticking. Everyone was too paralyzed at the sudden revelation to even make a small movement. There is only one thought running through heads.

Kaede has tentacles and her sister was killed by Koro-sensei.

All of it seems so surreal.

"I should've known the moment I saw your face. You look like your sister." Their teacher said with a bittersweet smile though it went unnoticed by the girl.

She glared at him fiercely, "Of course, you won't easily forget your victim's face especially my sister. How dare you kill her?! She was all I have-" Tears were pricking up her eyes but she refused to let them flow. Instead, she blinked them back. No. She won't cry now. It would make her look weak. Kaede needed some time to compose herself. She can't fight like this. Not when she's still mourning over the loss of her precious sister. Her voice when she spoke was steady in contrast with her warring emotions.

"Tomorrow morning. We'll meet here again. You, the teacher's and the whole Family members. You'll tell your students the exact truth about yourself and how you killed my sister." She left without waiting for their reply.

When she was gone, Karasuma proceeded to call the Defense Ministry, requesting for Itona Horibe to be sent on their current location. He never mentioned the incident. Koro-sensei had a feeling that he was leaving it up to him. It was only a matter of time before they find out. He was ready to tell them the truth if they asked, though not like this. The man loved them too much to break their trust. It pains him to see them like this; so torn and confused.

"I'm leaving them unto your hands until I go back, Karasuma, Irina. Take care of them for now." They both nodded.

 _'It looks like I can't fulfill my promise to you. I hope, you'll forgive me for letting you down, Aguri.'_

* * *

Karasuma sighed, he knew that their target was a former assassin but, he can't bring himself to believe that it was capable of killing an innocent woman much less, the sister of his Family. It just doesn't make sense.

He scanned the students' faces. All of them was still in shock though they all seemed to be recovering rather quickly in compared with an ordinary person. He was grateful not to be left with an emotional wrecked children. Not that he doesn't care about them, he does, but because he don't know how to deal with them.

"The octopus honed them well if they are able to get back to their senses twice faster than normal." He observed.

"You can say that again." Irina spoke as she stared at them. Her eyebrows was drawn in concern for the students'. A feat she never did before except when things go awry at her mission. She expected them to be dumbfounded at the truth that their teacher was not really what they thought he is. Angry at that he kept it for them for so long. What she didn't expect was for them to be so accepting and truth seeking. He really did trained them to be a perfect assassin.

* * *

"Hey, you okay?" Maehara asked his partner while shooting her a worried look. Their atmosphere was somber and he didn't have the strength to fool around and flirt. They had formed a circle with a bonfire at the center. Despite, being in a daze, they all gathered dried twigs and barks for the fire.

"Yeah, just surprised is all." She shrugged. Okano may have made it sound like it was nothing, but if she was being honest, what happened shook her to the core. They're not that close though Kaede and her used to bond about their hate of large chests. Watching her lash out at Koro-sensei with those insane tentacles of hers is like seeing a different person altogether. She had come into a conclusion that maybe she was just acting in order to get closer to their teacher. But then again, their interactions always feel genuine. So, she never understood the reason why would she act like that. Never in her life that she have felt this conflicted before.

"If you say so," he replied not really believing her.

* * *

Manami kept on glancing at the two snipers. As expected, they were taking it well like real professionals. Their faces remained stoic saved for the occasional eye contact they made with each other. A silent conversation only the both of them could understand.

Saying that she was shaken was an understatement. She was scared witless at Kaede's tentacles and words. The sweet, caring girl she knew was replaced by the sad, avenging angel with tentacles as wings. She didn't thought that someone as cheerful as Kaede was actually lonely and broken inside. It made her heart constrict with sympathy for the other girl.

She decided to go into the forest to gather more woods when a gentle hand grabbed her wrist. Her eyes widen in surprise as she she opened her mouth to scream.

* * *

Karma put a hand on her mouth to muffle the sound. He caught her off guard judging from her horrified expression.

"Shh... Calm down, Manami-chan. It's only me, Karma." He whispered in her ear. Her body visibly relaxed at his voice. She removed his hand and turned to see him.

"Where were you?" She murmured at the boy. He was beside her when the incident happened but after it, he was nowhere to be found.

"Nagisa, me, Isogai and Kataoka talked in private regarding Koro-sensei and Kaede."

Her mouthed formed an "O" at his words. Of course, they would be discussing it not dwell over the terrifying tentacles like she did. Manami felt guilty all of a sudden. Here she was, over thinking while the rest of them was planning what they would do next. She feel awful and useless for not helping them.

The boy saw the usual light in her eyes become dull. He knew her enough to guess what she was thinking.

"Stop," His expression softened. "You're not worthless, Manami. Don't let those bullies words get to you. You proved yourself a couple of times already."

Her eyes widened at his statement. It surprised her to no end that he could see right through her like a glass.

"O-okay..."

"Now, don't look so glum. They'll think, I've forced you to eat something bad." He squeezed her arm reassuringly.

"... Thanks, Karma-kun." She smiled and once again Karma was left wondering how can she do something amazing like lighting up her warm, brown eyes or brightening her kind smile.

* * *

Koro-sensei appeared in a flash. His tentacles was full of phones. He gave it back to them one by one in an inhuman speed. When they got it, they noticed that a video was already playing.

"... Is this... Kaede?" Nagisa was, for once, at loss for words. Her hair was brown but her eyes was a dead giveaway that it is her. He could see her acting flawlessly at the movie. Every line she said was so full of emotion. So, real that he was beginning to doubt that their friendship was just a façade. A scheme to get Koro-sensei back.

"Yes, that is indeed her. Her real name was Akari and she was a famous actress at a very young age. Though, she took a break from all of it for a while to attend school like a normal student. Her sister was a kind nurse who took care of me when I was still a human."

"If that's the case, then why did she said you killed her sister?" Hara asked him.

"You didn't kill her, right Koro-sensei?" Yada was anxious to know his answer like the rest of the students.

He stared at the sky, "You'll know, soon enough."

The class E Family was less than 7 hours from the truth.

* * *

 **Hey, guys! Sorry if the last chapter feels a bit rushed. I was kinda busy. But to make up for it, I made this for you, guys! Please, tell me what you think about the story I the review! \\(^0^)/**

 **Love lots!**

 **~bip0lar-angel~**


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